American Atheist Magazine March 1964

8/10/2019 American Atheist Magazine March 1964

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Vol. 8 No. ;J

MarcL,. 1984

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The American Atheist is published monthly by

The Freethought Society of America, Inc., a

non-profit

corporation,

Publication office is at

4547 Harford Road, Baltimore, Maryland 21214.

Subscription rate is $5.00 a year; s tudents $3.00.

Ten copies of one issue: $2.50

Second class postage paid at Baltimore Maryland

eath Universe A Review of Mondo Cane

he Interlocking Dictatorship

he Christian Century

egetation Gods and Sun Gods

ook Bargains

oetry Vehicle of Controversy

etters to

v,

Editor

1

17

18

24

6

8

30

31

3

artoons

h e S t a f f . .

d i t o r i n C h i e f A s s i s t a n t E d i t o r A s s o c i a t e E d i t o r

Madalyn Murray Garry De Young Robert Anton Wilso

Jack Brady

Ralph Blois

t r b u t i n g E d i t o r s

Lou Alt

Virgil McClain

C i r c u l a t i o n

William' Murray

Marian Walker

u b l i s h e r : T h e f r e e t h o u g h t S o c i e t y o f A m e r i c a I n

r i n t e d b y . . G u s t a v B r o u k a l f r e e t h o u g h t P r e s s


3/37

The American Atheist is pubHshed monthly by

The Freethought Society of America, Inc., a

non-profit corporation. Publication office is at

4547 Harford Road, Baltimore, =Maryland 21214.

Subscription rate is $'5.00 a year; students $3.00.

Ten copies of one issue: $2.50

Second class postage paid at Baltimore Maryland

1, _

eath Universe A Review of Mondo Cane

he Interlocking Dictatorship

he Christian Century

egetation Gods and Sun Gods

ook Bargains

oetry Vehicle of Controversy

etters to

v,

Editor

I

17

18

24

6

8

3

31

3

artoons

h e S t a f f . .

d i t o r i n C h i e f A s s i s t a n t E d i t o r A s s o c i a t e E d i t o r

Madalyn Murray Garry De Young Robert Anton Wilso

Jack Brady

Ralph Blois

t r b u t i n g E d i t o r s

Lou Alt

Virgil McClain

C i r c u l a t i o n

William Murray

Marian Walker

u b l i s h e r : T h e f r e e t h o u g h t S o c i e t y o f A m e r i c a I n

r i n t e d b y . . G u s t a v S r o u k a l f r e e t h o u g h t P r e s s


4/37

The American Atheist

The news presented in these columns, which

fills approximately one half of the magazine, is

chosen to demonstrate to you, month after month,

that the dead reactionary hand of religion is al-

ways with you. It dictates how much tax you

pay, what food you eat and when, with whom you

sleep, if you should have children, if you die in

concentration camps, if you are segregated in

some manner from other human beings, what you

read, what movies you see, and what you should

or should not believe about life. Religion is

politics and, always, the most reactionary

politic s.

W e editorialize our news to emphasize the

above thesis. Unlike any other magazine or news-

paper in America -- we admit it

A N D T H E Y S P A K E IN F O R K E D T O N G U E S

CONGRESSIONAL RECORD

Proceedings and Debates of the 88th Congress,

Second Session, Washington, D. C.

Saturday, February 8th, 1964

Vol. 110, No. 24, Pages 2514 -2518:

Amendment offered by Mr. Ashbrook

MR. ASHBROOK. Mr. Chairman, I offer an a-

mendment. (to the Civil Rights Act of 1963 - ed.)

The Clerk read as follows:

Amendment offered by Mr. Ashbrook: On page

70, line 10, after the word enterprise insert

a new section:

(f) Notwithstanding any other prOVISIOn of

this title, it shall not be an unlawful employ-

ment practice for an employer to refuse to hire

and employ any person because of said person's

atheistic practices and beliefs.

MR. ASHBROOK. Mr. Chairman, I have heard

it said time and time again that we are not en-

deavoring to include all types of discrimination

in this title and in this bill. However, we are

prescribing very definite and positive require-

ments on employers.

Baltimore, Maryland 21214

N e w s

If I may have the attention of the chairman

of the Judiciary Committee, I should like to pro-

pound a question to him, because if my inter-

pretation of the bill is incorrect I shall gladly

withdraw my amendment.

I would like to propound just one question. I

am thinking in terms of a private enterprise for

profit, which would be covered by this bill. A

man comes for employment and the employer is

honest enough to tell the applicant, while he is

otherwise qualified, he will not hire anyone of

atheistic convictions. The man then uses his

remedies provided by this measure. It is my in-

terpretation of the bill that as a part of his civil

rights purported to be extended by this FEPC

title, he could allege he has been discriminated

against and proceed against the employer.

I wonder if the chairman of the Committee on

the Judiciary could give me his interpretation

of this. As I said, if I am wrong, I will gladly

withdraw my amendment.

MR. CELLER. The bill provides there can be

no discrimination on the ground of religion. That

is the answer I have to give to you.

Mr. ASHBROOK. So if I do not want to hire

an atheist, I can be forced to hire one?

Mr. CELLER. Not necessarily. It all depends

on the surrounding circumstances. If the em-

ployer deliberately discriminates against a per-

son because of his religion, although he may be

otherwise qualified and all other things being

considered, he may run afoul of the law. But

just because he is an atheist would be no rea-

son why there should be any discrimination,

whether he be a Catholic, a Protestant, or a

Page 1


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The Am erican A th e is t

. It all depends on the facts and circum-

ces in the case.

Mr., ASHBROOK. I think you have answered

question. I have stipulated that the man

uld be otherwise qualified and he has been

estly told this is why he would not receive

position.

Mr. CELLER. There is no need for your a-

ent.

Mr. ASHBROOK. This would be a practice

ich the employer could not do, according to

what you said. He could not discriminate a-

inst a person because he is an atheist. Is

t correct?

Mr. CELLER. That is correct.

Mr. ASHBROOK. That is what my amendment

endeavor to do; that is, to say the em-

yer could discriminate because of the athe-

ic practices or beliefs of an applicant for a

My amendment would seem to speak for it-

f, and Icertainly encourage everyone to sup-

rt it. It seems incredible that we would even

y consider forcing an employer to hire

atheist. This is one of the booby traps in the

which the sponsors have very glibly alleged

not exist.

Mr. ELLIOTT. Mr. Chairman, I cannot but re-

l that when word spread that land was near,

brave band of our forefathers aboard the

er 350 years ago, immediately met in

hold of their ship and adopted an agreement,

w known as the Mayflower Compact, which

rted with the words:

In the name of God, Amen.

America started under God.

The United States of America has progressed

der God to the highest pinnacle of perfection

any nation on this earth.

Her dedication to God in the early years was

cribed upon all her basic documents, upon

r constitutions, her declarations, and her tab-

Baltimore M aryland 2 2 4

God We Trust.

As our Nation grew, she pushed her boun

aries across her frontiers and her men of G

were the keepers of civilization pending the f

mal planning of our political subdivisions.

The concept of a nation which respects G

has continued to this very hour.

A few years ago Ihad the privilige as a M

ber of the U. S. House of Representatives

helping to write into our basic statutes the re

tation in the Pledge of Allegiance to our f

that we are one nation under God .

In furtherance of that dedication we set

aside a prayer room in this Capitol where m

of all faiths might repair for communion w

God.

We erected the declaration In God We Trus

over the Speaker's chair of this very Chamber.

We stand today upon the very summit of

world. Men of earth proclaim our greatness. It

written upon the winds. Soon it will be reflecte

upon the stars. Surely the God of all things h

directed us. Divine Providence has led us.

In the midst of it all is man. God put h

there. He gave him the wonderful attribute

free choice of religion. We call it freedom

religion. We protected that choice in the C

stitution itself. America gave the atheist

right of disbelief. It gives it to him today.

surely, our America gives the employer

right to reject an applicant for employment w

does not believe in God. Under this amendme

we are speaking of private employment. Tod

the American employer has a right to insist t

his employees believe in God. Thi s amendm

insists that that right not be taken away fr

the American employer if he desires to exerci

it.

There will be cries of anguish from those

the other side of this debate that this ame

ment is abridging a freedom of free man.

yesterday many of these same people voted

give a swarm of bureaucrats the right to cut


6/37


than 300 years old in our America. They voted

to cut off the benefits of a hospital program

which is the envy of the world. They voted to

cut of aid in fields where that aid is necessary

and beneficial.

Here, we do not seek to take any right away

from anybody. We leave the right of the atheist

to believe, or not to believe, as may be his

choice. All this amendment does is preserve for

the American employer a freedom to insist that

his employees be under God. I think the amend-

ment ought to be adopted.

Mr. WHITTEN. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike

out the last word.

(Mr. WHITTEN asked and was given per-

mission to revise and extend his remarks.)

(These remarks were addressed to a prior a-

mendment. - ed.J

Mr. JONES of Missouri. Mr. Chairman, I rise

in support of the pending amendment.

(Mr. JONES of Missouri asked and was given

permission to revise and extend his remark s.)

Mr. JONES of Missouri. Mr. Chairman, it is

very apparent that there is a lack of agreement

among members of the Committee. You will re-

call a minute ago I made the inquiry of the chair-

man of the committee, the ranking member of the

committee, who was not here. The gentleman

from Michigan gave me his interpretation that as

an employer I could require that an employee be

a member of a church. Yet, we have heard the

chairman of the full Committee say that this bill

would permit an atheist to go before this com-

mission and making the point he had been dis-

criminated against. I do not know how the rest

of you people feel about this. I am sorry that the

author of the amendment did not include Com-

munists in here also.

It would be interesting to see how many

people are going to stand up here and be count-

ed, and say they feel an employer is compelled

to give consideration to the hiring of an atheist,

when he is trying to run a business that is bas-

ed on good moral groun~

I would invite your attention to a speech

-. ,..t

'f ' 4

Balt imore, Mary land 21214

made by our President last Thursday morning

when he spoke at the Presidential prayer break-

fast about his belief in God. He thought we

should have here in the Capital City a monu-

ment, a religious center--not paid for out of pub-

lic funds. I do not think the President of the

United States would have any objection to this.

I want to ask at this time the chairman of the

committee if he would be willing to accept this

amendment?

Mr. CELLER. Of course I cannot. How could

the Feceral Government give sanction to reli-

gious discrimination?

Mr. JONES of Missouri. We are not doing

that.

Mr. CELLER. That is what the amendment

does.

Mr. JONES of Missouri. What you are trying

to do is to give a preference to guarantee em-

ployment of atheists. That is what you are doing

if you fail to accept this amendment. I know you

try to get out of this, but we found out a lot of

things here today that have happened in connec-

tion with this section. There are still many more

amendments that are going to come. I would like

to find out what the position of the people is in

relation to atheists.

This is a nation that believes in God, a

nation that was established under a belief in

God. We have put up over the Speaker's dais,

and I want to remind you of this, these letters,

6 6 1 n God We Trust, which were put there after

the Supreme Court decision. They were put there

to show, at least, that many Members wanted to

do something positive to indicate they did not

agree with or concur in the Supreme Court deci-

sion.

I still believe that the American people be~

[ , c t

lieve in God; that they have very implicit trust ./ ~

in God, and I do not want to have any of ou

laws weakened to the extent we do not recog-

nize that this is a nation that believes in God.

I support the pending amendment, and hope it

will be adopted.

Mr. BROMWELL. Mr. Chairman, I move to


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The American A the is t

ike out the last word.

Mr. Chairman, I should like to make this com-

nt on the recent remarks of the gentleman

m Missouri. Although I am reluctant to do so,

disagree with the chairman of the committee.

e the debate was in progress here a moment

o I looked in Webster's dictionary, and in my

ion, discrimination on the ground of religion,

we accept the definition in the dictionary

ch we have in the front of this Chamber,

es not include atheists. It says that atheism

religion are antithetical terms. Hence, un-

r the terms of this bill, one cannot discrimi-

te among Methodists, Catholics, or Mohamme-

ns, yet may discriminate against an atheist

h impunity.

Mr. JONES of Missouri. If the gentleman will

ld, in other words, the gentleman would have

objection to putting this amendment in the

?

Mr. BROMWELL. I think in the circumstances,

er my view, it would be surplusage and un-

ssary.

Mr. J ONES of Missouri. In the light of what

chairman has said in establishing this legis-

ve history, that it could be, I should think

gentleman would demand that this amend.

t be adopted to conform to his belief.

Mr. BROMWELL. I think it to be unnecessary.

is is my view of the matter. I myself would

t see any reason to include it.

Mr. ASHBROOK. Mr. Chairman, will the gen-

yield?

Mr. BROMWELL. I yield to the gentleman

Ohio.

Mr. ASHBROOK. Suppose an interpretation

re later made by the Supreme Court that would

that atheism would be lack of religion?

ey would not treat them in the same way.

Mr. BROMWELL. I would hesitate to antici-

e an opinion of the Supreme Court. It is en-


/

- - - - -

?

'Mr. RODINO. Mr. Chairman, I move to str

out theIast word.

Mr. Chairman, I am opposed to this ame

ment. I was one of the original co-sponsors

the proposal to include the words under Go

in the Pledge of Allegiance. I am a Catho

by faith, but I respect the right of other peop

to believe or not to believe. I do not see

reason to discriminate against a person on

count of race, color, national origin, or religio

If a person seeks not to believe in God, I

lieve it is his American right not to believe,

though I would continue to adhere to my religio

Believing that this Nation grew because it h

in its basic fabric a strong belief in God, nev

theless I as an American and as a Member

this Congress feel that this amendment is

tirely out of order. Therefore, I oppose it a

hope that the rest of the Members, feeling

strongly as we do about this great country

ours and about the right of every individual

believe in his own religion, will vote down t

amendment.

Mr. GROSS. Mr. Chairman, I move to stri

out the requisite number of words.

(Mr. GROSS asked and was given permissio

to revise and extend his rem arks . )

Mr. GROSS. Mr. Chairman, I appreciate

statement made by the gentleman from New J

sey, but he does not go to the root of this m

ter. That which is sought to be cured is

compulsion upon an employer to hire an athei

That is the issue. It is not a question of h

the gentleman from New Jersey or the gentlem

from Iowa feels, but rather it is the compulsio

upon the employer to hire. That is why this

mendment ought to be adopted.

Mr. JONES of Missouri. Mr. Chairman, w

the gentleman yield?

Mr. GROSS. I yield.

Mr. JONES of Missouri. If we adopt the

mendment and an employer wants to hire atheis

he could do it if he wanted to, but we leave

in the discretion of the employer.


8/37


for any reason, and by the same token he

uld not be prohibited from doing so if that is

desire.

Mr. Chairman, I have no quarrel with an

eist simply because he is a godless person.

ould protect his right under the Constitution

believe or not believe in God with all the vi-

r at my command.

Again I urge adoption of the amendment and

ld back the balance of my time.

- - - - .

Mr. HOLFIELD.' r. Chairman, Imove to

ike out the last word.

Mr. Chairman, Ithink we have come to the

t where this subject of freedom of religion

pels me to rise and say a few words.

I want to say in advance that I am not an

ist. I believe in a Supreme Being, so Iam

t here protecting an atheist from the stand-

s of my personal beliefs. I take exactly the

e position that the gentleman from New Jer-

(Mr. RODINO) takes. I happen to be a Prot-

. I happen to believe in God Almighty, but

say that any nation that protects freedom of re-

has no right to impose compulsory reli-

on on any citizen in this country. If any man

this country wants to go to a church of any

mination or stay away from one he has that

under the Constitution, and there is no

ace in the Constitution that tells man to wor-

ip God in any fashion. This is a matter of in-

vidual decision. This is a matter of individual

I can remember the teaching of the Holy

ures, when the Saviour spoke to the people

Jerusalem. He condemned the Pharisees and

d the Sudducees for their adherence to the

rms of religion and their denial of the true

iritual principles of religion.

I can remember that he condemned the Phari-

es for making long prayers in the marketplace

ere they could be seen by men and for the

rpose of being applauded for their false piety.

But the Saviour said they, the Pharisees,

not lift the burden of the poor with their

tle finger, a burden that was pressing down


they give a crumb to those who were hungry.

So I say to these people who are religious,

and I am religious, that there is something

wrong with your religion if you seek to impose

upon any man a specific form of religion or a

adherence to a religion of any type. That i

tyranny whether it is imposed by the sword o

by legislation. True religion is a matter of per

sonal conviction within the soul and the spirit

and the mind of man.

There is an inscription in the Jefferson Me

morial that quotes the words of Jefferson. H

said:

I have sworn eternal hostility against every

form of tyranny over the mind of man.

To

enforce

the form of religion on a man against his will i

tyranny.

There have been many crimes committed

throug hout the centuries of history in the name

of religion. Millions have died because of per

secution in the name of religion. So I say, le

us not get so excited about whether a man be

lieves in God or not that we are willing to em

brace tyranny. That is his privilege under ou

country's Constitution, and it is not your job

nor is it my job to impose upon him any specif-

ic religion; or to punish him because he does

not have a religion.

Mr. HARDY. Mr. Chairman, Imove to strike

out the last word.

Mr. Chairman, I did not want to talk on this

subject, but we have gotten into some very fun

damental discussions here and I am afraid som

of my good friends are missing the point entire-

ly.

There is not any imposition on a man to have

any kind of religion because an employer wh

does not want to employ an atheist refuses t

employ him. The employer certainly should no

be compelled to employ the man. The compul

sion is on the employer and not on the man wh

is seeking a job. I do not feel any discrimina-

tion in my heart because of anybody's religion.

But I do not want anybody to say to me that

have to employ an atheist if I should happen


9/37


I know some good, God-fearing business

people who are very, very strong in their con-

victions on this subject. If you say to one of

them, You have to employ this fellow whether

you want him or not, and you have to ignore the

fact that he does not believe in God, that is an

impairment of the right of that businessman and

employer that is much more serious than the im-

pairment of a man's right to have that job. Cer-

----

tainly, the employer should have the same right

to de~ermine whom he will hire.llf ~ 'lI

It). ~

J

t

Mr. Chairman, this is a very, very shi~us

thing. No man ought to be compelled to hire a

(man who I n athei;t ir-he has strong rel i-

g.ioUYC~~vic .~~. Th~ ~roblem would not a-

rise in

mg ifidustry but It could happen in a

small company and that is the place where the

danger really exists.

Mr. Chairman, the amendment ought to be

adopted and I am surprised that the gentleman

from New York did not accept the amendment

when it was offered.

Mr. JOELSON. Mr. Chairman, I move to

strike out the last word.

Mr. Chairman, as a person with deep reli-

gious convictions personally, I merely rise to

say I never dreamed the time would come when I

(

would hear it argued in the name of religion that

we would say to the children of a nonbeliever

that because your father is a nonbeliever, you

shall not be given your daily bread.

Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my

time.

Mr. BALDWIN. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike

out the last word.

Mr. Chairman, I would like to direct one ques-

tion to the chairman, the gentleman from Ne w

York. (Mr. CELLER). If a person came to an em-

ployer and asked for employment and the person

identified himself as a Communist, if the em-

ployer denied him employment, would the em-

ployer be violating this act in its present form?

Mr. CELLER. This bill has nothing to do

with political affiliation. It would be the same

as if it were denied to a Republican, to a Demo-

crat, or to a mugwump.


Mr. BALDWIN. The theory of communism also

includes the theory of atheism. If the man iden-

tifies himself as a Communist, what is there in

the bill which would in sure to the employer that

if he denied employment on that ground the em-

ployer would not be accused of violating the

provisions of the bill?

Mr. FLYNT. Mr. Chairman, will the gentle-

man yield?

Mr. BALDWIN. I yield to the gentleman from

Georgia.

Mr. FLYNT,. I say to the gentleman from Cal-

ifornia that I have an amendment at the desk

which I believe will answer the question the

gentleman from California has raised. I hope he

will support my amendment at the proper time.

Mr. WHITENER. Mr. Chairman, I move to

strike the requisite number of words.

I rise in support of the amendment.

Mr. Chairman, I had not intended to inject

myself into this discussion, but we have heard

so many pious phrases about freedom of religion

that I am reminded that perhaps more damage

has been done to the foundations of this Nation

throughout history with pious phrases and

appearances of piety than has been done in any

other way.

I do not attack any other Member, but I was

shocked to see a Member stand here a moment

ago and talk about taking the bread out of the

mouths of the children of an atheist, when that

individual diligently voted to take the bread out

of the mouths of innocent children who may live

in a community which might fall under the pro-

visions of Title VI, which we sought to strike

out of the bill.

It is felt to be bad, by some, to defend the

fundamental faith of mankind, which as made

F / / /

t~nd ~flTi~felt'to-~.~. ter-_{ ~

rt -

le thing to disagree with the gentleman's

views of sociology in this country.

You would take the milk bottles out of the

lunchrooms of the parochial and public school

because someone does not agree with you on

the matter of segr egation, but you would say to

Page 6


10/37


11/37


You know, I started out in life to be a

her, Mr. Chairman. Sometimes when I get

to make a talk in the church after I finish,

eone says, can understand why you are a

od Congressman. Then other times I try to

ke a political speech and someone says,

ell, I can understand why you would make a

od preacher. But be that as it may, I cannot

r the life of me, Mr. Chairman, see why a man

o owns his property, and manages his property,

st hire an atheist.

Let me say it has nothing to do with the

ht of that man to believe as he wants to be-

ve.

Mr. GRANT. Mr. Chairman, will the gentle-

d to me?

Mr. MATTHEWS. I will be glad to yield.

Mr. GRANT. I would like to call the atten.

n of the gentleman and the House to the

rds above the Speaker's desk.

Mr. MATTHEWS. I want to thank the gentle-

an. And let me say again I believe every man,

man, ought to have a right to his beliefs

far as his religion is concerned, but at the

me time I do not believe that a man who owns

operty, who has a business, should be made to

re a man if he is an atheist.

Mr. JENNINGS. Mr. Chairman, will the gentle-

n yield to me?

Mr. MATTHEWS. I yield to the gentleman from

Mr. JENNINGS. I want to commend the gentle-

for the fine talk he has made and to asso-

ate myself with his remarks and his beliefs.

Mr. MATTHEWS. I thank the gentleman very,

ry much.

Mr. BEERMANN. Mr. Chairman, will the gen-

man yield?

Mr. MATTHEWS. I yield to the gentleman from

Nebraska. There is no finer man in the Con-


Mr. BEER MANN. I would like to say for

benefit of my friend from Florida and my as

ciate on the Agriculture Committee that for

benefit of the House and his benefit I did

want this opportunity to go by to recognize t

this amendment was sponsored by the gent

man from Ohio (Mr. ASHBROOK), instead of

gentleman from Missouri, and I congratulate

for supporting it, Billy Matthews Graham.

Mr. MATTHEWS. I thank you. I am for

gentleman's amendment, as the gentleman f

Nebraska (Mr. BEERMANN) explained, an

think the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. JONE

is also in favor of this amendment, as are oth

I will be delighted to yield to anyone e

who will say a kind word about me, Mr. Ch

man, or for this amendment.

Mr. SCHADEBERG. Mr. Chairman, I move

strike out the requisite number of words.

Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of the ame

ment of the gentleman from Ohio.

I am not going to take 5 minutes, but j

make one short statement. The issue in

amendment is not whether or not anyone ha

right under our Constitution to be an athei

The issue is whether or not under our Consti

tion a believer in God has a right to choo

whether or not he must hire an atheist. In ot

words, if we do not have this amendment,

Government is going to be in a position in wh

it has the authority to interfere with a ma

right to make what he believes to be a mo

judgment. I think this is not the prerogative

government.

Mr. WICKERSHAM. Mr. Chairman, I move


Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of the ame

ment. At this time I should like to ask the cha

man of the committee a question with referen

to this section of this bill. Can the chairman

sure the Members that this bill, as written,

empts fraternal orders in their daily activities

as well as in the operation of Masonic hom

Woodman homes, Moose homes, Elks homes, O

Fellows Homes, and in the operation of their


12/37


Mr. CELLER. It exempts all fraternal orders.

Mr. WICKERSHAM. All fraternal orders are

empted. Thank you. That is the assurance I

.

In connection with the pending amendment I

ould like to say this to you: I agree with the

ntleman here that if you permit, if you require

se who are religious to hire those who are

t religious, you are interfering with the re-

freedom on which this country was found-

. I cannot see how any employer, including a

, should be required to hire a Com-

unist, or an atheist or anyone else in that cate-

ry whom he does not desire to employ, even

ough such individual might meet all other re-

irements. You might even require the churches

d lodges, clubs and businessmen and Con-

essmen to hire atheists unless this amend-

nt is accepted.

Therefore, Mr. Chairman, I am in thorough ac-

rd with the gentleman who offered the amend-

t. I urge the adoption of the amendment, and

ield back the balance of my time.

Mr. RYAN of New York. Mr. Chairman, I move


Mr. Chairman, this Nation was founded and

s been made great by people who were seek-

religious freedom. Our Founding Fathers

ote the guarantee of religious freedom into the

l of Rights. Diversity has been our strength.

I was shocked a few moments ago to hear the

ntleman from North Carolin a -- I hope he did

t mean what he said - say there was only one

m of religion that matters in this country, and

is the Christian religion. Many religions

many diverse points of view have made up

s Nation. Our citizens belong to many faiths.

Mr. WHITENER. Mr. Chairman, will the gen-

man yield?

Mr. RYAN of New York. I yield to the gentle-

n from North Carolina.

Mr. WHITENER. I will say to the gentleman

either inadvertently or purposely entirely


ever I said I meant every word of it.

Mr. RYAN of New York. I do not think I m

understood the gentleman.

Mr. ROBERTS of Texas. Mr. Chairman, w

the gentleman yield?

Mr. RYAN of New York. I yield to the ge

tleman from Texas.

Mr. ROBERTS of Texas. If the gentlema

will refer back to the history of our country

will find it was based on the premise of freedo

to worship God according to the dictates of h

own conscience.

Mr. RYAN of New York. That is fundamenta

but I take exception to the false concept th

only one religion should be singled out as t

source of our greatness.

The CHAIRMAN. The question is on the

mendment offered by the gentleman from Oh

(Mr. ASHBROOK).

The question was taken, and on a divisio

(demanded by Mr. CELLER) there were - aye

137, noes 98.

So the amendment was agreed to.

There are

~33

seats in the United State

House of Representatives. There are

2

vacan

seats due to death.

There were 198 House members who did n

vote on this bill.

This means that the bill was carried by

31.42 percentage of the House members.

The persons in the above drama - note the

state and party affiliations - were:

John M. Ashbrook

John F. Baldwin

Ralph F. Beermann

James E. Bromwell

Emmanuel CelIeI'

Carl Elliott

John J. Flynt Jr.

George

M.

Grant

Rep.

Rep.

Rep.

Rep.

Dem.

Dem.

Dem.

Dem.

Ohio.

Calif.

Nebr.

Iowa

N. Y.

Ala.

Ga.

Ala.


13/37


14/37


The churches feel that they have the right to

nt interpretative subjects such as history

reflect the dogma of the particular church

t that the precise sciences can be taught

secular tax supported schools.

The churches have influenced educators in

y states to indulge in this sporting sharing

, which they describe thus:

In Detroit, 182 seventh and eighth grade

udents are taking their neutral subjects at

public school half a mile from the parochial

ol were value subjects are taught.

Detroit and Flint, Michigan, and Pittsburgh,

d Philadelphia, Pennsylvania are the cities

ost often cited by the Catholic church as the

aces with more 'enduring programs.'

L IT T L E B R O T H E R

I 'S

W A T C H I N G

More and more leaks are corning into the

ws media these days about Little Brother

bby's big push to be President. He makes no

nes about it, as he indicates that the present

esident is energetic, in a strenuous job, and

t Johnson has already suffered a severe

art attack.

Stewart Alsop writing in the Saturday Evening

st points out that Bobby's best chance - per-

ps his only chance - is as Lyndon Johnson's

ce President.

Tempers flared in the New Hampshire primary

paign when a write-in of Bobby Kennedy's

e for nomination on the Democratic ticket was

rted, apparently with Bobby's blessing.

But some hard facts were handed to Demo-

tic leaders, as Bobby Kennedy began his

paign, as usual, on two levels.

The upper level was a public harvesting of

od will toward the Kennedy family flowing

m the death of John Kennedy. The lower

el operation is the claim here presented:

There are at least

14

pivotal states where

proportion of Catholics

is

large enough to


Rhode Island 60%

Massachusetts ...

Conneticut

New York

New Jersey

Wisconsin

Illinois

Pennsylvania

Michigan

Minnesota

California

Montana

Maryland

Ohio .

5

49

40

39

31

30

9

24

24

22

21

20

These states represent 264 electoral vote

only six less than needed to win the W

House in the big raffle corning up.

John F. Kennedy did not win a sing Ie f

state and he lost the electoral votes of Florid

Kentucky, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Tennesse

Virginia and half of Alabama. Without the unp

cedented 78% of the Catholic vote he would h

lost the big Eastern States with their lar

electoral count - and the election. As it w

remember that John F. Kennedy won by le

than one tenth of one percent.

To take a detail, the 62 counties in

decisive state of New York, for example, th

Democratic county committeemen in 57 w

Catholic. The convention candidacies hin

on such details. Robert Kennedy is pushing

a bove statistics hard to win for himself

opportunity to stand 'one heart beat from

pre sidency. '

In this struggle to win a place as Johnson's

running mate, Brother Bobby is meeting a pro

lem - Lyndon Johnson's well known conviction

that the future of the United States shou

never depend on Bobby Kennedy which conflic

with tribal chieftain Joseph Kennedy's law th

'If something happened to his brother, Bob

would take over.'

1 9 6 4

Thousands of Hindus and Moslems in

Gaya district of Bihar State, India, are trekki


15/37


M E M L L O R Y

We find freethinkers everywhere - usually in

thick of a fray fighting for sanity and justice.

Mae Mallory is one of these, a long time free

ught advocate. Her particular bout with The

lishment began, legally, in August, 1961.

that time she decided to go along with Julian

ield, a reporter for the York Gazette and

ly Newspaper who was covering the Monroe

orth Carolina) integration story. Mrs. Mayfield

went along. Mae Mallory is a New Yorker,

37, mother of two children, and she had ex-

nce in hospital and first aid work. She

t she could be useful in household and

er chores for the integrationists living in the

e of the local Monroe NAACP president,

rt Williams.

Freedom Riders, Integrationists, Segregation-

, incidents, police, attacks and counter at-

ks mounted until white heat was reached.

white couple, Mr. and Mrs. Bruce Stegail,

e to the Williams home and sought refuge.

lliams gave them refuge in his home, where

e was preparing supper for everyone. State

opers were called to surround the home; chaos

gned and Williams, his family, Mae Mallory,

Julian Mayfield and his wife escaped.

Robert Williams, his wife and' two sons fled

Cuba. The Julian Mayfields fled to Ghana.

e Mallory fled to Cleveland Ohio. North Car-

na charged them all with kidnapping Mr. and

s. Stegail. Mae was arrested and jailed in

veland, and finally extradicted to North

lina after a running legal battle of several

rs. She was returned on January 10, 1964.

You all know how dangerous the se freethink-

are - that is why it took 25 members of the

I to arrest Mae; and why she was jailed dur-

reat part of her two and one half year fight to

id extradition to North Carolina.

It was ironic that Mae Mallory, a fr ee thinker,

s brought back to Monroe to be tried. For the

urthouse there is unique in one respect. It is

only one we know of which is surmounted by

cross, put there after considerable contention.

me citizens thought it an inappropriate place


that she was being dragged back, not to b

tried, but to be crucified.

This week (first of March) we received

information that Mae had been found guilty

sentenced to from 12 to 18 years in prison.

For those of you who are in sympathy w

her cause, she needs encouragement and fun

for her appeal to a superior court. She can

reached by writing to her

clo

The Monroe D

fense Committee, 605 Brown Street, Monr

North Carolina.

T R O U L E I N P R D I S E

There are Catholic Seton High Schools

Colleges in many places of America, named

ter Mother Seton an American Catholic Sai

who is moving toward canonization now in

Church mumbo jumbo.

Mother Seton, who died a century ago, h

rec

enty

cured a Baltimore girl of leukemia

She interceded in the process of this usual

fatal disease because the girl had directe

prayers for a cure to her personally.

On February 28th the students at Seton H

University in South Orange, New Jersey fo

to pray to Mother Seton to interceded in t

behalf, and they ran into fire hoses and brut

ity generally reserved for Negroes in our c

ture.

The student newspaper,

The Setonian,

w

rash enough to engage in that vile and un-Ca

olic activity freedom of the press by, am

other things, being critical of school regu

tions. Bishop John J. Dougherty, Seton Ha

president, after a morning conference with

student editor of the paper, Rocco De Piet

announced a suspension of the weekly new

paper. He stated, There has been a grow

evidence that freedom of expression is bei

abused in the columns of The Setonian, that

unwholesome spirit of cynicism has characte

ized too many of the articles.

Within an hour after the suspension notice


16/37


reets, blocked traffic, with a street sit down.

he police were called in and the students were

red to disperse. Then they threw a barrage

snowballs. The firemen were called in and

igh pressure water hoses were used on the stu-

, while the Fire Chief, Joseph Allen ex-

ined, We had to use the hose in self de-

The university administration then announced

hat they would not seek disciplinary actions

ainst the students, but that the decree cutting

f the student publication would stand.

T O U C H C K

Ten ministers last month were backing cir-

ulation of a petition on the campus of Okla-

a State University to ban public prayers at

arting of football games.

The ministers, representing seven denomina-

ions, said they were asking for the ban be-

ause they did not believe a football game was

a proper place for prayer .

Within two nights the petition carried approxi-

ately 250 names from the university's 11,000

udents. The question was debated in the Stu-

nt Senate which concurred with prayer before

mes. The 10 ministers, trying to have the stu-

ents see the light issued a statement which

, Since the football audience is not a com-

ity which shares a common faith, there can

e no common worship. It is a misuse ... to

mpt to impose upon them (the spectators),

hrough a prayer, any particular form of worship

If enough signatures are obtained, the minis-

ers will submit the petition to the Student Sen-

R E T R E T

When we advance two steps we retreat four

ps in the never-never land of thought con-

.

Advance a New York youth organization

s just been ordered by Bobby Kennedy, under

e McCarran Act to appear before the Sub-

rsive Activities Control Board for hearing.

first charge against the organization is


The second charge is that some of the po

cies of the organization are parallel to the po

cies of the Communist Party. We use one o

the specific charges as an example. One charg

is that Advance demands an end to all nuclea

tests by the United States. Since this charg

was made. the United States Senate ratified

test ban treaty with the Soviet Union. Therefore

using the same criteria, the United States Se

ate should also be appearing before the Subve

sive Activities Control Board.

George Meany, head of the AFL-CIO lab

movement recently called for a 35 hour wo

week. This is also a platform of the Communi

Party. Is Meany then a McCarran Act suspect?

We use another charge against Advance as

further example. They are cited as opposing t

McCarran Act But, Harry Truman, when he w

President vetoed this Act and it went back a

passed the Congress over his veto. About a ye

ago Mr. Truman reiterated his position agains

the Act. Therefore, he should also be appearin

before the Subversive Activities Control Board

At the first hearings against Advance, t

paid informers testified that they had spent pa

of their time spying on such groups as t

N.A.A.C.P., SANE and the Unitarian Church.

For all you good anti-religonists who fee

secure and hidden while you attend the Unitaria

Church, we will repeat that last statement.

the hearings, paid informers testified that the

had spent part of their time

SPYING

ON

TH

UNIT ARIAN

CH

URCH

H E R E S Y

A Danish artist, Asger J orn, recently a

tounded the art World by refusing to accept

prize of $2,500 from the Guggenheim Museum

New York. The Associated Press interviewed

Mr. Jorn on January 17th and he stated that h

did not like the authoritarian mentality i

spiring the donors of awards.

Searching further the AP found a relative

Copenhagen who recalled, When Asger J or

was a young and fighting artist, he contracted


17/37


oundations - but never received any. He never

orgot that.

And, so, it is not artistic temperament, but

ather the self respect of a man who has learned

o judge the patronage of The Establishment.

S U B V E R S IV E A C T IV IT Y

We have received the following news item,

nd although the news date on it is June, 1962,

feel that it is fresh news since it speaks of

ntinuous activity.

Five persons, having completed a year of

robation as novices in the Third Order of St.

cis of Ass is.i, will make their solemn pro-

sion at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen to-

y.

All will become members of the Franciscan

ernity of Mary Our Queen, established in

arch 1961.

The Lay Order of Saint Francis like the

e First Order, priests, clerics and brothers,

nd the Second Order, nuns, was founded early

the Thirteenth Century by Saint Francis of

The Lay Order makes it possible for men

nd women, who are unable to leave their homes

ecause of family ties and other duties, to join

religious order. They pledge, without vows, to

live a life similar to that of friars and nuns

s far as possible, still keeping their trades,

d professions.

World membership of the order is now more

an 4,000,000 persons.

The occupations of the five taking the solemn

rofession today are a lawyer, a Federal Bureau

f Investigation Agent, a real estate executive,

editor and a publisher. ... from the Baltimore

un Newspaper, June 14, 1962.

N O N K O S H E R K IT C H E N C A S H IE R E D

A significant storm has been brewing in the

and of Milk and Honey (Israel) over whether two


trans-Atlantic liner Shalom. The Zim Compan

had announced its intention to install both

kosher kitchen and a non-kosher kitchen on th

boat in order to attract every possible passenger

to operate at a profit.

Almost immediately representatives of all th

orthodox rabbinical organizations in Americ

conveyed to the Israeli government their con

stirnation at such a heretical plan as to have

non-kosher kitchen pollute the liner. The Chie

Rabbinical Council in Jerusalem gave the Zim

Company two weeks to abandon the kitchen be

fore withdrawing its kashrut certification from

all of the Company's ships. RabbiJoseph B

Soloveitchik, of Boston, threatened to proc laim

a herem (boycott> of EI Al Airlines as well a

Zim if the non-kosher kitchen went in, despite

the fact that Rabbi Soloveitchik's followers d

not care to travel on a Jewish ship where Jew

will be working on the Sabbath in any event.

Ear

ly

this month, Zim capitulated and an

nounced that the non-kosher kitchen would not

installed on the liner.

Alex Hershaft, who writes for The Leagu

for Religious Freedom in Israel unveiled th

underlying problem in his February 'Bulletin',

where he writes:

The Shalom controversy and the associated

more-kosher-than-thou nonsense is no mere que

tion of religious observance or rabbinical juris

diction. It is a test of strength between th

forces of theocracy and the democratic process

A test which pits the courage of individuals lik

Messrs. Herman and Bar-Yehuda (of the Zim

Company) against the blatant blackmail of Am

erican Orthodoxy. A test which the free men a

doomed to fail unless they learn to stand up f

their hard-wi n rights.

... the kashrut license has always been th

Rabbinate's favorite weapon. It proved most e

fective in blocking hall rentals to Reform con

gregations, forcing EI Al to provide free flight

for kashru t inspectors , bringing recalcitrant

businessmen to heel, and bludgeoning the foo

industry into hiring outrageous numbers of kash

rut inspectors.


18/37


and the League For Religious Freedom In Israel,

by writing to Alex Hershaft, at Post Office Box

2421, Washington 13, D. C. Subscription price of

'The Bulletin' is $2.00 a year.

K IR C H E K IN D E R K U C H E N

The Nazi philosophy concerning women was

put succinctly into three words, Church, Child-

ren, Kitchen and the good German woman knew

her place.

Well, here we go again This week Soviet

Russia announced that during the last twenty

years 8.3 minion Soviet women have received

medals for raising five or more children.

Tass news agency in making the announce-

ment stated, Motherhood and upbringing of

children in the USSR are regarded as an impor-

tant service to the state.

N O D IV IN E P R O T E C T I O N ?

Pope Paul was quite worried during his re-

cent trip to the Middle East, and had special

precautions taken regarding his food because of

fears of possible hydatidosis infection.

Hydatidosis is commonly known as Sheep

Herder's Disease, and Paul, the 'Chief Shep-

herd' knew damn well he was not immune. The

parasite which causes the disease is common to

that part of the world, and is transmitted through

food.

Prof. Carlo Sirtori, president of the Carlo Er-

ba I nstitute, Rome, said that the disease was

like malaria. It can invade any organ, from the

muscles to the brain, the bones, the lungs, the

liver, and, like malaria, it is a sickness of the

underprivileged countries. Well, if it is a

disease of the underprivileged, we wonder what

Pope Paul was worried about; that lets him out.

S P A R E P A R T S F O R G O D S I M A G E

We don't know what God and religionists

will say about it but surgeons from Denver and

Minneapolis recently expressed a hope that a

majority of organ grafts for human beings will

some day come from animals.


They disclosed that six baboon to human kid

ney transplants were conducted in Denver i

December and January. The Minnesota grou

has studied the baboon intensively since 1960

and believes that the animal is the sub-huma

primate closest to man in its physiology. The

also point out that baboons are readily avail

able.

Dr. Joseph Holmes said that fresh living k

neys offer better prospects of good results tha

kidneys taken from a cadaver.

The surgeons were noncommittal on whethe

kidneys from human beings related to th

patient offer better prospects than baboon kid

neys or kidneys from nonrelated human beings

Don Arwine, University of Colorado 'direc

tor of hospitals, said the identifiable hospital

costs of transplants during the past two o

three years has declined from $12,000 to abou

$5,000 to $7,000 for each operation.

A N O T H E R IN V A S IO N

The human mind is tempting territory whic

the authoritarian always desires to invade. Now

we find that the Federal Government is charging

ahead into this field without restraint, and with

out due cause.

The Federal Government has been giving lie

dectector tests to thousands of its employes,

ten without observing formal regulations govern

ment regulations.

A study of this ordered by Representative

Cornelius E Gallagher, Democrat of New Jer

sey revealed that Federal agencies own hun

dreds of polygraphs -- the technical name for li

detectors - and use them frequently. Mr. Ga

lagher took an interest after a complaint from

constituent,

a single constituent wrote to him.

After an eight month investigation the follow

ing preliminary figures were reported.

During the year, June 1962-June 1963, (the

fiscal year) the Government carried out 23,12

lie dectector tests.

The Government owns 525 polygraphs, fo

which it paid $444,000.

Page 15


19/37


Of the 25 agencies that permit use of lie de-

tors, only 7 have formal regulations govern-

their use.

There are 656 authorized polygraph opera-

s ranging from high school graduates to

ers of Ph.D. 's in the Government.

Five agencies do not make the results avail-

e to employes tested.

The figures do not reflect use and ownership

lie detectors by the Central Intelligence

ncy. Apparently the C.I.A. is the most pro-

ic user of lie detectors. The agency says all

its prospective employes are afforded lie-

tector tests. The FBI, which has the most

ed operators, does not use the machine for

rsonnel screening.

_There is a difference of OpInIOn among ex-

rts as to effectiveness of polygraphs. Mr.

llagher said he was deeply disturbed by the

s, particularly on two points: the lack of

iform and carefully set down ground rules

oughout the government for protection of the

vidual being tested, and the lack of rigid

fications for operators.

Freethinkers are more deeply disturbed on

points: (1) that Mr. Gallagher or any other

presentative of the people should feel that any

ogical aspects and ground rules should

considered as mitigating the infringement on

r inherent right to freedom of conscience, and

) that any peeping Tom should be officially

nsidered for use, much less used, on the cit-

W H O S E E N V O Y ?

Senator Hubert Humphrey, a Protestant asked

White House to appoint an envoy to the Vati-

according to the Chicago American of Tues-

, February 25, 1964.

According to the story, Humphrey is quoted

saying:

It is in our self-interest to have regular re-


The religion of our envoy is not significant

because of certain rituals, a Catholic m

have certain advantages there.

There are two views freethinkers may take

this suggestion. One is that the Roman Cath

Church is a political state and should be re

ized as such. Then, if the recognition is giv

it follows that aid to parochial schools in

United States, and grants for building fund

parochial colleges, and grants of federal

to specific Roman Catholic Bishoprics in

United States would need to be handled thro

Foreign Aid Funds. Since most of our For

Aid goes to military assistance for dictators

one ilk or another, this would follow a pat

established.

A second view is that, in as much as w

not recognize the temporal power of Prote s

as political statehoods, we should not recogn

the claims of the Roman Catholic Church t

the official government of all human activities

A T H E I S T S C A N A D O P T

The Telegram, Toronto, Canada, newspap

carried the two inch high, front page ban

in red, on March 5th when it announce

'Children's Aid Drops Ban; Atheists Can Ad

Metro Children's Aid Society has drop

its ban on allowing atheists and agnostics

adopt children.

Society director L. S. Richardson, annou

ing this, emphasized that the new policy d

not include Roman Catholic adoptions.

He told more than 300 at the society's

nual meeting in Maurice Cody Memorial H

last night that adoption procedure would be b

ed on the best home possible.

The Child Welfare Act bans placement

non-Catholic children in Catholic homes a

Catholic children in non-Catholic homes,

said.

The Metro society is the first in Ontario

alter policy permitting adoptions by atheist

other non-Christian parents, he said after

meeting.


20/37

The American Atheist Baltimore} Maryland 21214

N e w s c o p e

Are the new Federal Reserve $1 bills, now

being put in circulation, legal tender? Repre-

sentative Wright Patman (D., 'I'ex.), chairman of

the powerful House Banking and Currency Com-

mittee, doesn't think so.

He has ordered a full-scale investigation of

the Federal Reserve Bank's issuance of the new

paper bills to replace the Treasury's silver cer-

tificates. As a starter, Patman has ordered Fed-

eral Reserve Bank chairman William McChesney

Martin Jr. to furnish to his committee a report on

the Federal Reserve's authority to issue the

paper money. Before making the demand, Re-

pre sentative Patman told a closed-door meeting

of his committee: I have checked all the laws

and cannot find anywhere that Congress has

given the Federal Reserve Board the power to

issue these bills. I'm going to see that the issu-

ance of this money is stopped.

In connection with the issuance of this

paper money it is well to remember that the

name Federal Reserve Bank and naming of

its head officer Governor was probably for

the express purpose of fooling the people into

believing that the Federal Reserve system is a

branch of the government, instead of a purely

private bank, from which the government re-

ceives no revenue, and in the management of

which it has no voice.

When Marriner Eccles, Governor of the Fed-

eral Reserve Bank appeared before a Senate In-

vestigation Committee some time back, he said,

When the banks take a billion dollars of gov-

ernment bonds as they are offered, they credit

the United States Treasury with a billion dol-

lars, and charge their Government Bond Account

with a billion dollars; or, they CREATE, by a

bookkeeping entry, the money with which they

buy the bonds.

The Carter H. Harrison Company, Investment

Brokers, of Chicago, in urging their clients to

buy bank stocks, say, It is essential only to

realize that all banks CREATE out of nothing,

the money they lend, even to the government.

In 1863, Congres s was caj oled, or threate

ed, or bribed into passing the National Bank

Act, from which the Federal Reserve Bank

accrued so much power that it now issues pa

money backed only by the declaration on the

In God We Trust .

Congressman Jerry Voorhis has proposed

plan to have the government buyout the Fed

al Reserve Bank, and issue our own currency

accord with the constitution (Art. I, Sec. 8, p

5). Under the original charter provision of t

Federal Reserve Bank, the government could

this for about $140 million, and take over

the assets of the system, amounting to so

$29 billion.

PATMAN

Any Congressman who would receive a hu

dred letters on the subject of the new $1 b

would ask Representative Patman what goes

and may even support him. We should prais

Allah when we find a Congressman with som

courage and some sense of the urgency

retaining the democratic framework in which

can still operate.

Write to your Congressman and to Represen

ative Patman. Every Congressman answers

mail sent to him by his constituents. You

needed in this fight: WRITE TODAY.

Page 17


21/37

The American Atheist Baltimore) Maryland 21214

D e a t h U n i v e r s e

A

R e v i e w o f M o n d o C a n e

Robert n ton Wilson

I don't want no more of your rotten old

Death universe ...

William Burroughs, The Soft Machine

A man's arm appears on the screen, dragging

ething on a leash. The camera pans down-

d and we see a dog struggling desperately.

the soundtrack we hear the barking of other

s - hundreds, thousands of dogs, howling in

and anger. A gate opens and the dog that

have been watching is brutally picked up and

wn into a dog-pound. On the screen appears

title, Mondo Cane

A

Dog's World. )

Not since the gruesome opening shot of

i's Andalusian Dog has a movie so frankly

sensationally yanked hold of the audience's

. Mondo Cane, is indeed, much indebt-

to Dali's earlier exploration of cinematic

rbidity; under the facade of naturalism,

new Italian film is as surrealistic as Dali's,

, like Dali's, is primarily a cry of outrage

in st the fabric of reality itself.

I am aware that the critic in the

Saturday Re-

has described Mondo Cane as being merely

steless and sensational . I am also aware

Leo Tolstoy made the same idiotic remark

ut King Lear. Mondo Cane, in my opinion, is

serious and genuine a work of art as anything

ve ever seen on the cinema screen.

With great and Nietzschean contempt for his

e, the director has made this movie into

imitation of the popular travelogues of the

that the mass audience is supposed to posses

The irony is poker-faced throughout; only o

or twice does it become broad enough to aro

widespread laughter in the audience. The mo

tonous voice drones on, finding everything

the screen either quaint or edifying or ju

downright cute ; but what we are seeing

hind this voice is a carefully edited catalog

unmitigated horrors. It is like touring throu

Dante's Hell with the cheerful voice of Ar

Godfrey chirping in your ears. It is, indeed,

perfect

symbol

of the semantic jungle of

modern world, as typified in America by

Huntley-Brinkley type of newscaster with

brisk detachment from the fallout figures

other terrors which he is chronicling. Carried

an extreme, this bright-eyed refusal to face

horrors leads to schizophrenia. The Ameri

mass-communications industry is a monument

that kind of schizophrenia, but Mondo Cane,

Italian film, reminds us that the plague is

nearly universal.

The editing of this film is of genius calib

After the opening shot of the condemned dog

do not proceed immediately into other horro

but stop off first at a rather light and am

ing vignette in the town where Rudolph Val

tino was born. Several men of the town, c

scious of the cameras, are deliberately imitat

Valentino's seductive half-feminine half-masc

line pout: you can see in each of them the dre

that the movie crew will discover him

make him overnight as rich and famous as V

entino. The director has saved from the ant

of this group only the carryings-on of the ugli

and most hopeless of these men. Each of th

arouses laughs from the audience and is, in f

a clown; each imagines that he is a handso

and irresistable Apollo. This spectacle of v

ity and self-deception is amusing enough,


22/37


as the movie proceeds. A few moments later we

are witnessing the ritual murder of some pigs by

an African tribe, one of the bloodiest and most

gruesome spectacles ever shown on a movie

screen. The audience is forced to make a men-

tal connection: is not this brutality caused by

the same vanity as the clowning of the

soi-

disant

Valentinos? Is not man's idea that he is

so far superior to the pigs that he may murder

them with impunity a great and terrible vanity

indeed? Is there not the same lack of perspec-

tive in both groups? A bit later we see the bar-

baric feeding of the French geese specially

bred for

pate de foi

gras pipes are rammed

down their throats and the food is pushed down

by sheer brute force. The idiot voice of the nar-

rator cheerfully comments that in the old days

the geese's feet used to be nailed to the floor,

but we are more civilized now. Instead, the poor

birds are locked in hideous cages too small to

allow them to move.

Most of the sequences revolve around this

same theme of human vanity and man's barbaric

cruelty to the other animals on earth. One se-

quence suddenly reverses the image and we see

the armless and legless people of a Pacific is-

land horribly plagued by sharks. This is, actu-

ally, the most important sequence in the film,

because it serves to remind us that man, alone,

did not invent evil. Evil is in the very fabric of

the universe; this is a dog's world , indeed.

Such a thought is so uncomfortable that most

people never face up to it for a moment in their

lives. The last sequence shows how one typi-

cal group goes about evading this insight: a

tribe in New Guinea who worship cargo planes.

Since the planes are in the sky, they are more

than human; someday they will land and bring

happiness to all of us. But the planes, of

course, never land; they are just passing over

on their way from China to Australia. The movie

ends with a group of cargo-cultists sitting a-

round a bonfire at night, watching the sky, hop-

ing for the supernatural deliverance that will

never come. This cult is so absurd, and so pa-

thetic, that it serves as a symbol of all religion

and of mankind's eternal desire to escape know-

ing what a dog's world this really is.

Is there no ray of hope anywhere in Mondo

Cane? None, just as there is none in Euripedes'

Bacchanae, in King Lear, or in that other great


epic of sharkish brutalities, Moby-Dick. Mo

Cane is one of that handful of art-works wh

dares to present a totally pessimistic philo

phy. The agony and sincerity of such a vis

is too brave a thing for me to have the affro

ery to patronize it by claiming to know be

than these artists. The strongest sequence

Mondo Cane is an island gone insane: standi

too close to Bikini, this island has got an o

heavy dose of atomic radiation. Here sit bi

hopelessly trying to hatch eggs rendered s

ile by fallout. More terrible, in a different w

are the lunatic fish who have taken to liv

in trees. Worst of all are the turtles who h

lost their basic instinct; after laying their eg

instead of returning to the sea, they head

land where they soon die of thirst, making fu

swimming motions in the water that isn't the

This island of horror is a glorious vision

deed of what human ingenuity can do to

world, and it is a foretaste of what our wh

planet may be like in a few years if nuclear

search continues. Anybody who wants to c

plain that the director of Mondo Cane is a ch

cynic, or that art must always be affirmativ

would be well advi.sed to try to change the

world first. Art, after all, is only symbolic.

the symbols disturb you, friend, take a lo

hard look at the reality which inspired them,

change

that.

The artist is only a recording

strument:

I am the Defense Early Warning Radar System

I see nothing but bombs

wrote the great American poet, Allen Ginsbe

If you want modern artists to see something

bit more cheerful, make a world a bit more ch

ful for them to see.


23/37


Baltimore} Maryland 21214

T h e I n t e r l o c k i n g D i c t a t o r s h i p

W illiam Moore

One hundred eighty five years after the

laration of Independence, a subtle tyranny

hovers over this land and its people. It is

tyranny of custom, of fear of disapproval, or

lf-defeating search for inner security.1t is

antithesis of democracy. It is a tangled

s of associated - and revered - taboos that

se men to worship Authority more than Free-

.

People are lazy thinkers; they prefer the tidy

simple black and white concept to the

ity of a complex world. They impose upon

another the notion of good versus bad ,

in terms of practical consequences, but of

ent nature. From earliest childhood a per-

may be condemned as bad for merely

g clumsy or forgetful. This condemnation

y makes the child more clumsy or forgetful

ore bad - so that he may grow up as dis-

ed as the parent who raised him thus; and

will likely manifest this disturbance upon

children. And so it goes.

e live in a world that is dynamic, not static;

etrical, not ari.thmetical. It is a world of

n reactions in time from the first generation

he last, sometimes from one individual to the

le world. Ideas and human behavior may

ad like the plague. The clumsy or forgetful

child may, in his frustration, steal an

for spite, turn to drink for solace, or find a

world for escape. Prison or the mental

ital then beckons. Both institutions gener-

reinforce the individual's sense of bad-

or inadequacy or defiance and the individ-

in turn contaminates his family and friends

enem ies, and through newspaper notoriety,

comes an angry watchdog of what he conside

to be his interests. Within his family, he may

spiteful, bickering and hateful, but JUSt let

next door neighbor say one unkind word again

HIS child By the same token he is for his c

against his state, for his state against

country, for his country against his world. Sin

other individuals in other families, citie

states, and countries, have the same irratio

attitudes, the seeds for conflict are sown;

we as individuals are trying to save ourselve

by destroying the world.

We blame the world's leaders, its influe

tial men. Yet we - through our collective beha

ior in voting, buying one magazine in preferenc

to another, tuning in our TV sets, enforcing a

obeying the law - we put them where they

And we keep them there only so long as th

continue to serve or mis-serve, educate or m

educate us in the manner to which we are

customed or addicted.

With the growth of mass communication

provincialism loses out to universalism.

individuals, the powers over them become m

awesome, and the price to change this situatio

less and less worth it. Although provincia

ism may have been less enlightened , univ

salism is without other forces to challenge it

keep its whims from solidifying into dogmas

perpetual harm. We could become like the sta

Chinese agrarian society of thousands of yea

or the African tribalism of millions of years

fore the outside influence of Western socie

folted them in their thinking.

Democracy bestows upon the individual c

tain rights which no power must ever take aw

This is the one answer to universalism. Ho

ever, democracy is a relatively new idea and

practically all people it is no more than som

thing to pay lip service to. It is a respectable

word and Russians and Americans alike emp


24/37


conformity, in its name we see the imposition

of Authority.

Religion is defined as the recognition of

man's relation to a divine or supernatural power

to whom obedience and honor are due. In other

words, it is the embodiment of Authority; that is,

the antithesis of democracy. The world is com-

ing to be divided into two religions - Commun-

ism and our own as yet unsolidified varieties of

federations of provincialisms. Instead of one,

there are TWO universalities in two worlds on

one planet.

In a sense, we best learn by having the op-

portunity to study the fruits of the greatest con-

trasts in ways of life . For example, if we

would, we could learn that the Christian god is

not concerned with who, or whatever religion or

lack of it, may go however high in the sky - the

story of the Tower of Babel notwithstanding. We

could learn that large scale unemployment CAN

be eliminated by a government sufficiently de-

termined to do so, and that capitalism is not the

only route to a rising living standard. The ques-

tion arises, however, as to whether as we ind i-

duals will learn from our enemies , or merely

react shortsightedly - and hence become as re-

ligious in our way as they are in theirs.

What if, instead, we took the course of free-

dom and non-conformity? A brilliant friend of

mine was once railroaded to a mental hospi-

tal for a year for disrobing in public. I must

confess I think he must have been a bit off if he

really expected to get away with it - but whom

had he harmed? What had he shocked but con-

formity? And how was he cured by imprison-

ment? Another friend of mine is derided be-

cause he sports a beard, the examples of Abra-

ham Lincoln, Karl Marx, and Jesus Christ not-

withstanding.

A blind man received a feature write up in

our local newspaper because, while passing

through town, he was seen sitting in the bus

station wearing strange Biblical style home

made garb and staff. My co-workers joked about

the man for hours, as much as to say that any-

one else who dared to dress like this would be

subject to the same ridicule.

Making international news were two movie

stars who were (or were supposed to have been)

Baltimore} Maryland 21214

horrified to be seen in public wearing identical

dresses. If it is the objective of people to

please others - how impossible the task of con-

formist and non-conformist alike We must be a-

like, but not alike; different, but the same; and

neither superior nor inferior.

Vague and impossible as are the whims of

conformism - how difficult to change them How

comprehensively can disturbing the peace be

interpreted with the arrest of those who, by mind-

ing their own business in their non-confor.n ist

ways, may disturb the fascist minded onlook-

er. How easily is a Biblical verse found to sup-

port the established order (even to condemning

women who wear men's clothing ) - or in sup-

port of racism, aggression, exploitation, or just

plain disrespect. How discretely is advertis-

ing withheld from media that would support a

view that is unpopular ; how fearfully the sub-

scribers themselves slink away when their cher-

ished prejudices are persistently challenged -

or sometimes merely contradicted once. How

much is the world - are the minds of men - op-

pressed by the established orders and the es-

tablished thinking; and how bitterly men oppose

whatever arises to challenge the vested inter-

ests and vested delusions of things as they

are .

The world's people gripe because they do

not have pie in the sky, but they behave as

though they would shed their miseries only if

they were (1) based upon something so vaguely

presented as never to offend any prejudices,

like descriptions of heaven, (2) were only to be

realized after death, when every earthly thing is

already lost, anyway, and (3) only if eternal

hellfire were the only alternative, so there'll

still be good guys vel'Sus bad guys .

However, since the world IS dynamic and

geometrical, since reactions are chain by nature,

and since the forces of logic and reason are, by

definition, more logical and more reasonable -

the forces of authority, dictatorship, and reli-

gion (all three words being synonyms) contain

within themselves the seeds of their own de-

struction .

And since TRUE freedom would encourage

all other antitheses to present their cases in

the marketplace of ideas, once this old world

of ours breaks out of the tyranny of barbarism

Page 21


25/37


and tribalism - and the jungle ignorance that is

our inheritance, the world will truly flow with

milk and honey; even more, with happiness and


contentment.

If, that is, we don't blow ourselves up in

meantime.

T h e C h r i s t i a n C e n t u r y

Blo i s

Part 2: Final Blow

Man does not give up his Gods easily. Many

pagans who adopted the new religion did so to

save their skins, and not through any intellec-

tual conviction. It is wise to be a hypocrite

when one's life is in danger. The hero stands

alone, fights and becomes a martyr for the

cause. The coward runs and hides, but lives to

fight another day when conditions may be more

favorable to his side. And so it was that in 361

a Christian returned to the pagan faith of his

ancestors and became Emperor. Julian the Apos-

tate was now Emperor of Rome. Had he made

known his aversion to Christianity it is very

likely that he would have been killed many

years before. As it was, Christianity was now

in too strong a position to remove quickly.

J ul.ian dare not remove the 50 years of im-

perial protection too abruptly. However, he

could help to restore some of the pagan temples

and property. With this start, in a few years the

tide could be turned. Unfortunately, Julian was

killed two and a half years later. And the dread-

ful march towards Christianity resumed.

By 375, in Constantinople and the East, all

pagan churches had been closed for twenty

years and their-revenues confiscated. Imagine if

that happened in the USA - few churches could

survive such a blow. Taxation of Church proper-

ty will help - but that's another story.

The Emperors immediately following Julian

were Christian, but they followed a live and let

live policy. They observed a complete neutrality

towards religion. This satisfied the pagans,

irritated the Christian minority. Without the

itary help of the Emperor, Christianity could

conquer. It raged impotently and fought its

members. In the western half of the Empire

pagans held their own. Christianity did not

peal to them, especially after having tasted

earlier persecutions.

The final blow came. In Rome in 382,

peror Gratian reversed the 'freedom to all

gions' edict established by Julian. Gratian

fiscated the revenues and properties of the

ples, annulled all privileges of pagan pri

and Vestal Virgins, and had the Altar of Vic

symbol of the Roman religion, removed from

Senate at Rome. We are less than two deca

from the end of the century and the blow is

ing fast.

In 376 A. D. a drought in Asia drives

Huns upon the Germans. With only one direct

to go, the Germans break through the Romani

Goth and Vandal lines and pour into the Ro

Empire. With Christianity pressuring interna

and the Goths externally, it is a mute quest

as to which will capture the Roman Empire f

Valentinian II became Emperor in 383

backed by a zealous Christian priest Ambr

he and the Eastern Emperor Theodosius proc

ed to outdo the previous savagery. Christian

was showing its true colors with a vicious

geance. Theodosius tortured and punished

tioch. In Thessalonica,he invited the public

games in the Circus and then had his sold

massacre them. Estimates run from 7,000

150,000 men, women and children murdered

that massacre. A Jewish synagogue was bu

by a mob in Persia. The Prefect ordered it

built; Theodosius confirmed the order. Monk

brose violently opposed this move and for


26/37


Emperor to withdraw. The monks and people

set out to continue the devastation of non-

ristian temples. Under the reign of Theodos-

, the Christian Bishops gained complete con-

l over the Emperors, religious funds, edifices,

, and all local and provincial authorities.

Theodosius declared, in 381, that backslid-

from Christianity could not leave a legal

, thus leaving the widows and children des-

te. In 386 he sent an envoy to Egypt to

se the pagan temples. Under the protection

soldiers, fanatical monks and Christian lay-

n razed temples, plundered and burned. Much

the Alexandrian Library was burned by these

cs. Later this famous Library was to be

ly destroyed by Islamic fanatics. The wis-

m of the ancients went up in flames. The

mes of fanaticism spread quickly.

I n 391 Theodosius issued another decree:

Let none befoul himself with sacrifices, or

r innocent victims, or enter the temples, or

fend statues made by human hand, lest he be-

me guilty in the eyes of both human and divine

.

e penalty for disobedience was death.

In 394 two boy Emperors, Honorius and Ar-

us, gave the Christian faith its golden op-

unity. The Bishops gained control of the

pire by using Honorius as a figure head. Hon-

us decreed that the last pagan temples should

destroyed or converted to public use, and all

s confiscated. Christian Bishops were given

wers to ensure that the law was carried out.

d so, Christianity triumphed by the simple ex-

dient of killing off, or threatening to do so,

opposition. It now had the power to enforce

threat. This was in 408 A. D.

Constantine began the Christian Century in

, and the Bishops finished it in 408. The

y Roman Empire was converted from pagan

Christian in 96 years. Rome did not fall to

Goths until 410. The Christians won the Em-

e a full two years before the Goths reached

e. Now it was a simple matter of absorbing

ese barbarians into the Christian faith.

At the beginning of the fourth century the Em-

re had a postal system, free orphanages, free


education, free medical care, free recreation,

and free bread. These things perished with the

Empire. Christianity could see no need for them.

As Constantine's chaplain, Bishop Eusebius

put it,

It is not from ignorance of the things they

(pagan scholars) admire but from contempt of

their useless labor that we think little of these

matters and turn our souls to better things.

Apparently when you have Christ, you do not

need knowledge.

While many of the good things of the Empire

perished, some things were retained. The glad-

iatorial games continued for nearly another 50

years until the weakening finances of the Em-

pire could no longer support them. Even then,

good Christian warriors retained duels, tourna-

ments, trial by ordeal, fights with savage ani-

mals and torture. Slavery as serfs became in-

finitely worse under Christianity than slavery

under the Romans.

In making an historical analysis we are

forced to depend upon copies of documents, let-

ters, firs t hand reports, and historical writings

of the period. As in the case of modern day con-

troversy we often find conflicting reports of

historical events. In some cases we have to de-

pend on estimates and guesswork. For example:

the estimates for Christians in 300 A. D. vary

from five to fifty million; estimates for those

killed in the Thessalonica massacre vary from

seven to one hundred fifty thousand. Some areas

of history are par ticularly obscure. However,

taking these vagaries into account, we can be

fairly certain that the Roman Empire turned

Christian through force and not because of per-

sonal desire on the part of the converts. The

account I have given is not that usually accept-

ed by most historians as accurate - they just

haven't put them together in this manner. Too

embarrassing, I guess.

While I have not examined every

American Atheist Magazine March 1964

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Transcript of American Atheist Magazine March 1964